PHOTO BY LES VOORHIS, ROYAL TINE IMAGES INC.

The word irony, which means an outcome different from what is expected, doesn't always have to apply to literary works. Witness last October when I was bowhunting in Monroe County. The conventional wisdom was that early in the season, the deer, because of a bountiful acorn crop, would be feeding in white and red oak groves -- not in food plots or agricultural areas.

So on the third Saturday of the season, I ascended into a hardwood that was midway through a funnel that links a mountain laurel thicket and a stand of red oaks. And although I arrived early -- 1:30 p.m. -- and stayed late -- until dark -- I never saw or even heard a whitetail.

After sunset, I climbed down from the ladder stand and, out of curiosity, decided to go to my vehicle via a food plot. Arriving at the edge of the plot, I watched five whitetails dance away into the gloaming. That, my friends, I would describe as an ironical hunting happening.

Sometimes, some of the most enticing deer hunting in West Virginia takes place in the counties that are not the top-ranked ones in terms of number of deer killed overall. That is, some of the best counties to go afield in are the ones farther down the chart in each of the state's six districts. Before exploring this theory further, let's take a brief look at the 2005 bow harvest as a whole.

Last year, archers arrowed 22,255 whitetails, a figure that was 15 percent below the 2004 total. The year 2005 marked the fourth straight one where the bow harvest has declined from the previous year's take (with the total in parentheses): 2002 (37,144), 2003 (29,790) and 2004 (26,227). Not only was the bowhunting harvest down, but also so was the overall kill that shrank 25 percent to 134,577. The truth is that the harvest decline is good for deer hunters and the deer themselves. Some folks may find that statement ironic, but, nevertheless, it is accurate.

Frank Jezioro, director of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR), relates that the decrease shows the overall success of deer herd reduction efforts implemented in counties exceeding their population objectives. In 2004, the herd exceeded desired management objectives in 12 counties, which represent 12 percent of the Mountain State's habitat. Early analysis of the 2005 season, Jezioro said, indicates that deer numbers exceed management objectives in seven counties or 6 percent of West Virginia's deer habitat. The director stated that the DNR has made important progress in balancing the state's deer herd in relation to available habitat.

The truth is that having more and more whitetails and killing more and more deer every year is not good for the deer themselves or the habitat they live in. Currently, the DNR continues to stress -- and understandably so -- the importance of harvesting does during the various seasons as the most important and effective tool that exists to control deer numbers and to bring the state's herd in line with the land's carrying capacity.